LAU Tribune staff

“Read from page 15 till page 20 for Thursday,” the political science instructor wrote with confidence on the board. Com­plaints interrupted him. “Doctor, we have midterms,” some­body said. The instructor turned angrily toward the culprit. “When I was in college, I used to read 100 pages per day,” he said.

LAU professors, close your eyes and go back to your classroom 10 years ago. Is the student you see there different from the one sitting in front of you now?

Seven out of 10 instructors interviewed at LAU said that students have gotten worse in the last five to 10 years. They charged that some students today suffer from serious lan­guage problems, don’t read and are lazy and less motivated.

“Some of the students don’t care if they failed or dropped a course,” Samira Shami, English instructor, said. “They come to university just to get their university degree and all they care about are their cell phones and blackberrys”

Samar Mogharbel, a ceramics instructor, agreed with Shami. Mogharbel noticed that, after the new tuition system was es­tablished, students became more willing to drop a course. “They don’t care because, if they didn’t do well in a course, they simply drop it” she said.

Starting Fall 2010, LAU shifted from a credit-based tuition system to a term-based one. Undergraduate students taking more than 12 credits pay a fixed rate which covers the cost of four three-credit classes.

According to statistics provided by LAU, 2405 courses were dropped in fall 2010, compared to 1895 in fall 2009.

Some instructors believe that the attitude of students has changed and that they are not as serious about their education and professional career.

“Students before used to carry backpacks full of books and notebooks,” Ramzi Haraty, computer science associate profes­sor, said. “Now I notice students coming without even a pen to class.”

Haraty suggested that a variety of procedures must be tak­en at the admission, faculty and student level. “We have to do a better job recruiting faculty, we have to get more experi­enced and tough faculty as far as academic standards are con­cerned,” Haraty explained.

Many of the interviewed instructors related the problem to LAU’s admission standards. According to statistics provided on the LAU website, the acceptance rate for the school of ar­chitecture and design in fall 2010 was a staggering 80 percent, for the school of engineering 78 percent and for the school of pharmacy 83 percent.

According to a member of the faculty senate who refused to be identified, professors at LAU have often proposed raising

admission standards during meetings but no direct ac­tions were taken.

Not only are LAU students getting worse, the whole country is,” Nadim Mohsen, cultural studies instructor at LAU, said.

“All the negativism of the war appeared now, cultur­ally, socially and politically, and nothing happened to re­verse the downfall that was induced by the civil war,” he added. “I can feel that stu­dents cannot grasp the is­sues when we do a discussion or an opinion gathering, as if they are living in a different world. I don’t blame them be­cause they are part of this so­ciety that is falling down.”

Today’s students don’t need to spend overnights in the li­brary searching for informa­tion, they can just pull out their laptops, iPads or smart­phones to Google the infor­mation they need, whenever they need it.

“Too much information is not necessarily good informa­tion” Hiba Mekdashi, media and design instructor, said. Mekdashi believes that stu­dents now lack eagerness and passion for their work. “Their attention span is short, they easily get bored. They are less inspired and motivated,” she complained.

Some believe that education is not getting worse but is rather changing to meet the needs of an evolving world. “This is the law of nature,” Vahid Behmardi, chairper­son of the humanities depart­ment, said.

Behmardi believes that the majority of teachers are used to the old concept of reading. “Students now do read, but not in the classical way,” he explained. “Holding an iPad is like holding a whole library by your hand.”

The interviewed faculty of­fered many solutions, includ­ing a better equipped staff, a stricter attendance and grad­ing systems, organizing de­bates and seminars that help students improve on a cul­tural and academic level.

All interviewees proposed to raise the standards for ad­mission to LAU. Professors believed that this procedure would definitely ensure bet­ter qualified students.

“I agree 100 percent that raising the standards will help in making LAU a bet­ter university,” Elise Salem, vice president for student de­velopment and enrollment management, said. She con­firmed that the administra­tion is working seriously on this issue and has already made progress. “Two years and a half ago, it was open admissions,” she said. “You could apply two weeks before the start of university and the standards were not very clear.”

Since fall 2009, new stan­dards have been implement­ed. Students are now asked to apply for the SAT test along with the EEE exam. In addition, LAU phased out the AA program, which gave students without a Lebanese baccalaureate the possibility to enroll. “We are not happy that the quality of students in the classroom, reported by our faculty, is in many cases not up to bar. We agree that this is not acceptable,” Salem said.

“We want to raise the stan­dards slowly and, at the same time, there has to be more rigor and accountabili­ty in the classroom”

Surprisingly enough, some students agreed that LAU has to raise admission stan­dards. “People believe that anyone can be accepted at LAU and this is giving us a bad reputation,” Neam Kat­erji, a communication arts student, said. “We don’t want to be called the lazy universi­ty anymore.”

LAU Tribune contributor

A young woman, sitting lazi­ly in the middle of the gray­ish office, looked at her friend across the room. Notebook in one hand and pen in anoth­er, the young man was busy reviewing for an upcoming exam. “So do you think Bin Laden is dead?” She asked him. At this hour of the day, the scene seems quite banal. But it is not. What makes it worthy of scrutiny is the fact that the two LAU students are “at work.” Coming from different departments, they became friends as they chat­ted their way through the fi­nancial aid jobs they got at LAU.

Based on need and budget availability, LAU’s finan­cial aid and scholarship of­fice offer students a discount of up to 1,000 dollars pro­vided that they work for 100 hours per semester at one of the university’s various of­fices. Many students, how­ever, end up earning money for doing nothing or for sim­ple jobs such as photocopy­ing papers, sorting files and delivering mail from one of­fice to another.

Several financial aid stu­dents we interviewed used the title “office boy” to re­fer to the work they do. Still, some of the students we talk­ed to complained about what they called “the demanding type of work” they are asked to do.

“I don’t come to work because my uncle has connections with the supervisor,” Mike, a business senior who declined to give his real name, said. “I register my hours and I get paid for doing nothing.” He added that during a typical working hour, he drinks Ne­scafé with his friends out­side the office door.

Kamal, a business junior who also wished to remain anonymous, concurred. “I check Facebook at the of­fice when and if I go there,” he said. “I usually register but don’t show up or I might even bring my friends to sit with me because I’m bored.”

The problem, of course, does not extend to all LAU’s offic­es. In many cases, students work hard to earn the money they are generously grant­ed by the university. Inves­tigation, however, revealed that more than fifty percent of LAU’s offices only require students to photocopy mate­rial, deliver envelopes across campus and sort files. “We usually have work to do but sometimes we just sit at the office and wait for requests from the supervisor,” Caro­line Feghaly, a communica­tion arts junior, said.

According to public records, LAU’s financial aid bud­get for the year 2010-2011, amounted to a maximum of 15,282,694 dollars. The co­lossal sum raises questions about the way end-receivers earn their money.

“I sit at the office and, when I am asked to sort out files or deliver envelopes, I do so. But when I have no specific tasks, I just sit around doing nothing,” an education stu­dent who refused to be iden­tified explained.

Some students confessed that they don’t know what their supervisor’s job is. “There are no benefits be­hind this work except for making friends,” Farah Mtaweh, junior social work student who helps at one of the auxiliary offices, said.

Despite the obvious problem, many financial aid students re­fused to speak, even anonymously, fearing that they would lose their position and the money they get every semester. “What if investigations were done to reveal our identity?” One student asked. “Who would give us our financial aid back?”

To qualify for financial aid, students must have a course load of at least 12 credits and a minimum 2.0 GPA. LAU’s Beirut campus includes 62 offices and 131 supervisors with 850 to 900 financial aid students spread across the various units.

The number of students assigned to work at offices depends on the budget of the department, the type of work required, con­fidentiality and the space provided to accommodate the stu­dents. It may vary from three up to 23 students per office – sometimes more.

“We send an email to supervisors at the beginning of every term asking for any modifications required,” Samir Obeid, in­structor and director of the financial aid and scholarships of­fice, said. Obeid noted that the jobs assigned to financial aid students are mainly “office work” although some might help instructors in their research or at the lab or the gym.

Rola Rizk, an academic assistant for fine arts and foundation, said that she has ten assistants but “I don’t see them all.” She added that they work to make her happy although they some­times nag and give the work she assigns to them to other assis­tants. “I don’t mind it since the requests are done at the end,” Rizk said.

The Tribune did its own investigation, observing several de­partmental, administrative and faculty offices where finan­cial aid students were employed. In addition to the minority who did indeed work, most were busy with unrelated matters. Students sent messages on their BlackBerries, ate snacks or drank juice or Nescafé. Many were busy studying or prepar­ing for an upcoming presentation. Several chatted with fel­low financial aid assistants about their personal lives or about random issues such as fashion, jewelry, perfumes and restau­rants.

Obeid, who acknowledged the problem, recommended that su­pervisors audit the work of financial aid assistants and train them where needed. “Distribution of work should be done over the day,” he added. “Supervisors should optimize scheduling because it is a big responsibility they assume.”

Kamal, who has rotated in many offices around campus, said that some of his supervisors gave him actual work but some also asked him for petty tasks such as bringing them lunch.

“I am not satisfied when our recommendations are not ap­plied,” Obeid acknowledged. “I am not happy in general be­cause some offices make use of the students and some offices don’t. This needs better cooperation.”

In the final analysis, however, Obeid rightly noted that, de­spite its faults, the current system brought financial relief too many families. “One of the benefits of the program is that stu­dents assist their parents in subsidizing the tuition,” he said. “Ten dollars per hour… A price not given in many other jobs.”

LAU Tribune staff

What do you think of the saying; “like father like son?”

Conducting a research on great male figures like Picasso, Isaac Newton and Einstein, we see that these successful people accomplished great things in their lives but didn’t have a son to carry their legacy.

As I witnessed him, sitting there like a lion inside the cave where he ruled, I couldn’t but notice the authority he had on others.

He passed by them with his head held high and his chest wide open. They foolishly kneeled down to him, blinded by his father’s clothes lingering shaggily on him, thinking that they actually fit. Does his carrying his father’s name oblige us to respect him?

He has the walk of a lion and the manners of a conceited one for that matter. His commands were satisfied with the glimpse of an eye, his voice was heard, and his eyes glow sharp like thunder. I felt like a 10-year-old again watching The Lion King.

Being an outsider myself, I saw this incident as a Hollywood shot, but this time the acting was real. He’s confident about himself and euphoric about the sheep-herd that surrounded him.

Coming from a patriarchal society where males rule, I ask fathers, “how much do your sons carry your name, or are even qualified representatives of your names?”

And I keep on wondering and looking at him trying to define how much “he” is certified to use his father’s name when in reality he’s nothing like him.

We all heard people saying, “You’re just like your dad,” or “if he was here he would’ve been proud of you.”

Reality check: You are nothing like your dad; wearing the black suit doesn’t make you similar to him, neither does your behavior. You’re not even close or up to the achievements that he accomplished.

Nothing of what you are desperately trying to achieve will ever make your dad proud. Carrying that name only empowers you to hold a title with empty content.

So why don’t you give us a break and leave your father alone and start working on proving something out of your own name instead. Like your father, there is no one, not even you.

LAU Tribune contributor

I am always asked: “What are you majoring in?” A simple question that requires an even simpler answer: “Journalism.” What always shocks me is the flabbergasted look I see on people’s faces when I tell them. Usually, what happens next is the “burst out.” People ask, amazed: “You, Selim? Jour… Journalism? But why?”

This is the stereotypical opinion that some people in Lebanon have about certain majors, and what a lot of graduating high school students suffer from.

As a student who used to rank first in his class, I was expected to turn into a medical doctor, an engineer or an architect. Many people think that someone who is confused, or doesn’t know what to do with his life (aka, majorless), would eventually find him/herself in majors like journalism, psychology, political science, and the like. The important question here is: Is there a difference between those majors and others?

For some people, a student working to get a bachelor’s degree in psychology, for instance, is wasting his time and will end up working in a different field or not finding a proper job.

When asked to give his opinion, Maallem A., a fifty-nine-year-old farmer living next to my house said, “All the students, should major in something useful like engineering or medicine. Journalism is not a major, is it?”

I was shocked when I heard those words. I didn’t know that there were people who still thought that way. This is more than just an opinion, this is strong bias. This is a conflict between generations which shows that prospective or current students aren’t always on the same page as older contemporaries.

Sarah-Joe, a sixteen year-old, is still in high school and thinking about majoring in Human Resources.

“Well, I am not generalizing, but I think that there’s a big number of people that are not well educated; they are very old fashioned and do not have accurate information about all academic majors, especially the new ones or the ones they consider as ‘inferior,’” she said. “Many say ‘haram’ to me when I tell them I’d like to work in Human Resources later.”

Being brilliant at school isn’t related to what a person chooses to be.

Stephen King, the famous novelist, was an excellent student who graduated from high school and got a scholarship to attend the University of Maine. Academy Award winner Natalie Portman attended Harvard.

What I think should be done to eradicate the prejudices that people stick to is the dissemination of a new culture regarding this issue.

This can be done through TV shows, conferences, advertisements and some workshops for people to know that every major is the pillar on which the other stands. If you’re an engineer or a contractor, wouldn’t it be interesting to get people to write about your company in newspapers and magazines?

Finally, as a person who has had many setbacks when it came to choosing the “right” major, I tell all students and whoever might care to listen: If you want to be successful, you need to be happy, and if you want to be happy you need to fit in the environment that your major creates.

Thus, with all my heart, and with full self-confidence, I declare that YES… I am a journalism student.

By Sahar Moukaddem

LAU Tribune staff

Umm Omar is a 54-year-old woman with dark hair and light blue eyes. People fear her and try to avoid her because, they say, she has the power to cause impairment, domestic problems and accidents. She gives the evil eye.

Umm Omar believes she has the strange power to damage anything she stares at for a long time. “The eye has energy, like any part of your body, but this energy differs from one person to another,” she said.  “Evil eye is related to envy and jealousy but I’m not an envious person. I just have a power that causes minor accidents to things I look at for a long time.”

Umm Omar discovered this power at the age of 10, when she and her sister wanted to test for how long they can stare at a waiter working in a café. “I noticed that, for three times in a row, he tripped or dropped the platter he is holding whenever I stared at him,” she said. “I was really shocked and I tried to strengthen this power through trials.”

“I am known in the village for giving the evil eye,” Umm Omar added. “The funny thing is that people try to avoid me. But this doesn’t bother me, it just makes me laugh.”

The middle-aged woman confirmed that she could hurt someone unintentionally if she gets angry at him or her. “If you don’t want to get hurt, don’t hurt me or my children,” she said firmly. “One time, my daughter was talking with a guy and he mistreated her, I got so upset and the moment he left our house he fell on the stairs and broke his leg.” She laughed at the memory. 

Umm Omar said that the power she has could even hurt her own family. “When I say my son is doing great in school, the second day he fails his exam,” she said. “Some people advise me to go to a sheikh to find a cure but I refuse. God gave me this power and I don’t want to lose it.”

The belief in the evil eye is ancient. For centuries, this supernatural power has been blamed for diseases, death, natural disasters and accidents. Reference to the evil eye is found on Sumarian, Babylonian and Assyrian clay tablets. 

Believers in the evil eye consider that the eye is a source of envy. It is therefore enough to stare at something jealously to infect it with harm.

It is believed that some people, including newborns, breast feeders, the beautiful and the rich, are more at risk of getting the evil eye than others.

“My uncle died because of an evil eye,” Layla Anka, a 20-year-old student, said. “After he was completely cured from cancer, people wondered how he was able to heal and said it was a miracle. The second day, we found him dead.” 

Anka herself is familiar with this issue. People told her that the reason behind the terrible headache she once had was the evil eye. “I went to a sheikh to do a ruqya, and, when he recited verses from the Quran, I cried and yawned,” she said. “This means that I was affected by an evil eye.”

Ruqya is a process, renowned in Islam, where a sheikh or other religious individual recites specific verses from the Quran to cure patients from the evil eye, magic, jinn and related problems.

“Islam confirmed the existence of the evil eye,” Sheikh Khaled Ayoubi said. He referred to a hadith on the issue. “Whoever among you sees someone’s possessions that he likes, let him offer a duaa to bless it, because the evil eye is real,” the hadith says.

“Allah commands us to seek protection from the eye when He says ‘and from the evil of the envier when he envies [Al Falaq 113:5],” Sheikh Ayoubi added. He explained that, when you know the person who gave you the evil eye, you can ask him or her to perform a ritualistic wash and later wash yourself with water he or she used. If one does not know who the source of the evil stare is, then one would have to resort to a ruqya.

Sarine B., a 30-year-old housewife, asserted that she frequently got affected by the evil eye of a person close to her.  Sarine said that whenever she crossed this friend, something bad happened to her. “Once, she saw me in my new car and, five minutes later, a small rock fell on the glass and broke it into the shape of an eye,” she said.

 In order to protect herself from the evil eye, Sarine follows several rituals including going to St Charbel and praying or asking someone to perform a ruqya on her with the Bible.

Although many Christians resort to rituals that cure the evil eye, Priest Antoine Assaf said that such techniques are rejected by Christianity. “Some Christians took this habit from Islam and it is not related to Christianity in any way,” he explained.

 Assaf said that, although envy is stated in the Bible, there is no evidence of the existence of a power called the evil eye. “God asked us not to envy, but there is no such thing as an external power that causes damage because of envy,” he explained. 

Assaf conceded that it was possible to find old prayers to expel the effects of the evil eye in churches. “A long time ago, people used to believe in the evil eye and they themselves asked for these prayers,” he explained.

Western Science has long rejected the emission of energy by the eye but psychiatrist Colin A. Ross proved through the Electomagnetic Beam Detection System that eyes emit an energy that can be captured and measured.  There is no scientific proof, however, that this energy has the strength to alter things or inflict bad luck. 

But regardless of the debate, some people make a living out of curing victims of evil stares. Among them is Layla. She claims she has the power to expel the evil eye, wed a lonely girl and release black magic from a patient’s body. 

Before setting up an appointment with Layla, her secretary sits with you and asks some key questions for the diagnosis. These include your name, your mother’s name and your date of birth. 

Layla sometimes uses Quran verses but explains that there are also a “million types of other methods” she may use upon request. You have to pay 50 dollars to know whether you were a victim of an evil eye and an additional 50 dollars and to get rid of it. The price “depends on the power of the evil eye,” according to Layla. 

Hajj Bashir also cures people of the evil eye.  He has a “clinic” in Beirut, where he receives clients and promises to purify them from the evil eye. You are not allowed to ask him about the techniques he uses, as they are “secrets of the trade,” as he puts it. 

Besides spinsterhood, illnesses and death, the evil eye has been also blamed for political revolutions and crises. Libyan President Muammar Qaddafi indeed asserted that the recent revolts against his regime were caused by an evil stare.  “The village is a victim of an evil eye,” he said solemnly.

Special to the LAU Tribune

You know that feeling when you wake up on New Year’s Day and your friends send you a link to a drunk video of yourself on YouTube climbing a wardrobe screaming, “I WANT TO GO TO NARNIA”? Well, this is nothing like that. This is about a whole different kind of awkward. Do you ever feel like you’re unable to perform any mundane task without creating an awkward situation for yourself and those around you? Do you ever feel like you can’t achieve any form of human contact without excessive awkwardness involved? Well, I’m here to tell you that you are not alone. (Unless you’re in the bathroom. Then you are. Go to class.) Naturally, I’m an awkward person. For some strange and unexplained reason I often find myself in weird situations, unsure of how I got there or why I have a turtle on my head. And I’m sure I’m not the only one. (I think. That’s what I tell myself at night.) Sometimes it’s not our fault at all. Sometimes the universe just creates chaos around us to amuse itself with our awkwardness. (Not cool, Universe.) So this is to all you social outcasts who suffer from the same thing. These are just a few examples of the awkward occurrences you might have to deal with everyday.

Number 1:  Stairs.

I want to know what stairs’ problem is. What the heck, stairs? Who invented you anyway? All you do is make me fall. Personally, I would have called them The Descent of Shame… but no one lets me name anything. You know those stairs. The ones with the 4-feet-long steps that were apparently made for our giant ancestors, or Big Foot. (Are our ancestors real?) There is no right way of walking down these stairs. You can either take two short steps on each stair or extremely long ones. Either way, you will look stupid. There is no graceful way to descend these stairs. It is best to get it over with fast. You have to accept that at some point in time, you will fall down these stairs. People will stare. You will pretend to be invisible. It will become clear that you cannot pretend you are invisible. You will walk away quickly.

Number 2:  Acquaintances

It’s not that I don’t like people. It’s that they scare me. They’re all like: “I know you! Let’s converse!” And I’m like: “But I have nothing to say. And all I can think of is unicorns and chocolate bunnies.” And they’re like: “This is awkward, I’m leaving.” And I’m like: “Wait! BUNNIES!” And thus, I find myself in a quandary. (Quandary: A state of confusion. See also: “Pickle”.) What am I doing wrong? Usually I manage to avoid these kinds of situations by ducking for cover every time I spot someone who slightly resembles someone my cousin thinks is familiar. If that doesn’t work, I pretend to be a tree. But every once in a while, my tree mimicking methods fail me. And I’m forced into having an actual conversation. I try to avoid the subject of bunnies, and hopelessly attempt to find interesting common ground. (It’s not my fault you have no opinion on communism in egalitarian societies.) Naturally this results in an awkward situation where my friend spends the rest of his day trying to figure out what happened. Poor, poor friend. (He’s not dead. I didn’t kill him.)

Number 3:  Bathrooms.

More like badrooms. Get it? Bad-rooms? It’s like bathrooms, but with bad… I swear I’m funny sometimes. Public bathrooms are a very awkward place to be in. Especially when people speak to each other through stalls like it’s the most natural thing in the world, while you’re trying to make a seat protector out of pieces of toilet paper. (You know you do it too.) And then you’re thinking; should you flush while the other person is talking? Is that rude? What if they get mad? Is there some kind of bathroom etiquette? LIKE I NEED MORE AWKWARDNESS IN MY LIFE. It really sucks when people stare at you in there. Everybody knows you’re supposed to look straight in the mirror and avoid any form of eye contact. Did you not get that memo, Person Who Stares At Me To No End? It makes me think you’re laughing at my hair. It’s not THAT bad, okay? Apparently they have a lot of conversations in there. I was surprised too. What kind of idiot decided it was a good idea to socialize in a bathroom? Most of said conversations go like this: “I like your blouse.”- “Thanks!”- “…DO YOU LIKE MY PANTS??” -“Uh… yeah, yeah they’re great.”- “I got a new phone.” -“Oh. Cool.”- “It’s pink.”- “Okay.”- “WANNA TOUCH IT?”- “Uh…”

Number 4:  Elevators… or Doors, or really Anything That Moves.

So I’m waiting for the elevator, minding my own business (tra la la!), and a guy stands next to me. The elevator comes and the nice guy steps back and lets me go in first. I chipper a cheerful “Thank you!” to Nice Guy and walk in. After an awkward silence in the elevator, we reach our floor and the doors open. This is where I panic. Should I walk out first? If I do, should I say “thank you” again? Does the first one still count? Or should I return Nice Guy’s polite gesture by letting him go first? What if he expects me to? What if he wants to continue his act of chivalry, though? What if it’s impolite? WHAT IF NICE GUY DOESN’T LIKE ME ANYMORE?! Usually, Nice Guy is a normal person who politely waits for me to walk out first and forgets about the whole thing in two seconds. I, on the other hand; spend the next hour agonizing over every awkward detail. I usually end up spilling something on someone later though, so it gives me something else to think about.

In time, you learn to adapt to your awkwardness. (Not really. I lie because I care.) But you know who else was awkward? Lady Gaga, that’s who. And she’s like totes cool now. If she manages to not blind us with all her glitter, that is. (Unless you’re already blind. Then you can’t read this. I could totally make fun of you. But I won’t, because making fun of blind people isn’t funny. Ever. Except sometimes.) I hope this helped some of you awkward souls out there, and other people who read my articles. (Hi mom.) But don’t worry, everybody knows all the great world leaders were awkward. (Except for Hitler. He just needed a hug.) I leave you now with some wise words by the great Rene Descartes: “I smell; therefore I am.” See you on the other side, kids.

LAU Tribune staff

Just one night before her midterm, a distressed stu­dent at the social sciences department checked her in­box and miraculously found a copy of her long await­ed exam. Salma download­ed the document and tried to crack it, but eventually gave up on the bootleg document and went to sleep, hoping for a miracle to come her way in the exam hall.

The next day, an hour be­fore the exam, Salma’s eyes were bloodshot from the lack of sleep and agitation. She found out that the exam she received by email was not the right one, but was in fact for another course.

“I got the email and tried to solve the exam but it turned out to be for my other class,” Salma said, sipping a cup of coffee and struggling to stay awake. “There was a mix-up, but my ‘contacts’ have access to the professor’s laptop. I can make it up with another exam.”

Exam theft might seem like an exaggerated plot of The Perfect Score movie; howev­er, official sources at LAU and other universities told the Tribune that this is a problem all academic insti­tutions face occasionally. In a recent incident at LAU By­blos, five students were sus­pended when investigations revealed that they stole ex­ams from their depart­ment, a staff member who preferred to remain anony­mous, said.

According to Provost Abdal­lah Sfeir, investigations of exam theft are conducted around twice or three times a year on average. “Whenev­er [we] suspect in such a fact, we immediately take action and an investigation is set to examine the case,” he em­phasized.

Photo by: Yasmine Dabbous

“In theory, it’s very easy [to steal exams], all you have to do is [illicitly] get access to the professor’s laptop or flash disk,” Leila, an arts and sciences student, said. “It’s simple.” However, that action is not risk-free. Leila said one of her friends was apprehended by the admin­istration and immediately expelled, after a pending in­vestigation proved she was guilty.

Leila said she had acquired Salma’s aforementioned exam. She did so by illicit­ly accessing the professor’s flash disk files and copying all the Word documents la­beled by the course number.

Computer software that can be downloaded online free of charge allow perpetrators to easily and swiftly complete this task. Leila did not dis­close what kind of software she used, however, a Google search revealed over a mil­lion hits for the term “USB cloning software” online.

The Tribune tried to obtain the alleged exam but both Leila and Salma refused to give it out. When challenged, however, Salma gave us a set guideline manual that was to be distributed during a psychology class, almost a month after the theft had oc­curred. The paper that con­tained term paper instruc­tions was not the midterm but was acquired though un­ethical ways by a “source” who accessed the professor’s files.

“Students think that [steal­ing exams] is shatara,” Samira Aghacy, dean of arts and sciences, said. Those students are paying im­mensely for their education. What’s the point when they do something like that? They will suffer immensely when they graduate.”

Aghacy said that LAU pro­fessors battle theft by chang­ing their exams every se­mester. “This is the time for students to learn. It’s their fuel for the future. If you are not equipped then it’s a ca­tastrophe,” she added.

Photo via Facebook.com

Rabiaa Hobeika, an instructor who teaches German, has her own way of protecting exams. “I bring my students on Satur­day to take the exam,” she said. “Everyone has to be in the classroom on time before we start.”

Hobeika has a strict attendance policy for more than fifty stu­dents in two sections. Exams are counted before and after class is over and then matched to the names signed on the exam fold­er. Hobeika also locks the door five minutes into the exam and does not allow any late students in.

Karim, a pre-med student, doubted any exams were being sto­len in the natural sciences department. He attributed this to the highly competitive nature of pre-med students. “Everyone is trying to get a good recommendation,” he said. “Why would someone blow it [by stealing exams?]”

“It’s very hard to cheat or take out a phone during an exam,” R. M., a student who refused to be identified, said. “But I think it might be possible to steal an exam because some classes have forty students and the teacher can’t remember everyone in the classroom.”

Despite the moral and academic consequences, some students still try to get ahead of their classmates by soliciting help from people outside campus who are more than willing to help for a financial compensation.

Photo by: Yasmine Dabbous

Ali, a tutor for business majors, offers his services to students who have difficulties in class –if the price is right. The young man made a career out of tutoring (and stealing) service and it is a full time job that keeps him busy near campus, where stu­dents can seek his services out.

Posing for a student who needs help, a Tribune staff member called Ali to inquire about his services. “I can steal any exam, from any course or classroom,” he claimed confidently. His spe­cialty, however, is business, finance and math. Ali asks for 100 dollars for the price of every exam.

“I guarantee you the A,” he said. “One of my students got a 104 over 100.”

When asked, Ali explained briefly how he steals exams. He claimed that, when possible, he sneaks into the room where the exam is held, swipes a copy and then heads to a location outside LAU to solve the exam. He then sends the answers via text messages or through BlackBerry Messenger to the stu­dents who paid for his services.

“There’s an instructor who allows the use of iPhones during their exams, because of an app that allows the phone to be used as a graphing calculator,” Ali explained. He said he uses this to his advantage because it makes it easier for him to text students without fear of them getting caught.

“Students just tell the teacher that their phones have the graphing calculator app,” he said. “Meanwhile, what’s really happening is that I’m texting them the answers.”

LAU Tribune staff

When a Burberry hand bag or an HP laptop cost more than 600 dollars, why wouldn’t a single credit at LAU cost the same?

LAU is one of Lebanon’s most expensive universities. Every year, the cost of a sin­gle credit increases in vary­ing amounts depending on the major. With the world­wide rise of prices in every area, such increases are un­derstandable. At the same time, mounting tuition fees make the life of many quite difficult.

“The cost of higher education is ever increasing, and this is substantiated by many recent studies made in the USA and worldwide,” Emile Lamah, vice president for fi­nance and chief financial of­ficer at LAU, said. “The pri­mary source of revenue for higher education institu­tions is tuition fees, espe­cially in Lebanon. Annual increases are therefore nec­essary to cover the increas­ing costs.”

But students who dream of a strong degree suffer the con­sequences. Some can’t afford the expensive fees; others pay a price to study at LAU. “I’m taking nine credits for this semester because I can’t take more; each credit is very expensive and I can’t af­ford to pay for many credits,” Tamara Farhat, a 19-year-old political science student, said. “That’s why I work as a part-time teacher to help my parents pay my fees.”

The credit for the school of arts and sciences is between 513 and 585 dollars, the school of business between 575 and 585 dollars and the school of pharmacy between 633 and 645 dollars.

“I couldn’t pay for my fees on time because my par­ents were in Ivory Coast and they couldn’t transfer mon­ey, so I had to fill a petition signed by all my instruc­tors to be able to re-register for my courses,” Mona Ham­moud, a 19-year-old commu­nication arts student, said. “I paid my fees after all but with an extra 216,000 Leb­anese pounds for late regis­tration. The university has to be more understanding in such critical situations.”

During the fall of 2010, a major change to flat tuition fees was proposed. Accord­ing to the new system, stu­dents paid by credit if they took less than 12 credits. If they registered for more, they still paid for 12 credits. At the same time, the cost of credits was increased.

Many public and private de­bates took place. Most stu­dents agreed that the change was to their advantage. “The new system is better than the old one, you can take as much credits as you want for the same amount,” Ema Hatoum, a 21-year-old polit­ical science student, said.

Hatoum added, however, that LAU remains an ex­pensive university. “I used to study at York Universi­ty in Canada and the cred­its there were less expensive than LAU’s,” she said. “And York’s courses are much more difficult.”

Some students did not like the new tuition system. “I prefer the old one because it is not fair that a student tak­ing 12 credits pay the same as a student who is taking 18 credits,” Reef Sughayyar, a 22-year-old journalism stu­dent, said.

Lamah explained that the main reason for tuition in­creases is to maintain high quality education standards. The cash flow helps LAU re­cruit and retain highly qual­ified faculty and maintain state-of-the-art facilities, labs and equipment.

Sughayyar, however, com­mented that journalism stu­dents still do not have prop­er equipment. “They should at least fix some things so we can see the money we pay be­ing invested,” Sughayyar said.

Instructors also expressed their skepticism about LAU’s new tuition strategy. “Stu­dent take courses and end up dropping them.

It is disruptive to the class,” Kristiaan Aercke, associate professor of cultural studies, English and comparative lit­erature, said.

He added that the new tu­ition system promotes a “su­permarket” approach to edu­cation.

“Students take courses like they taste samples and then drop them if they don’t like them,” Aercke explained.

Rima Bahous, associate pro­fessor of education, said that, although the new tuition sys­tem was “good” because it helped students’ financial­ly, it still affected their aca­demic performance. “They take 18 credits because they can pay only for 12 and lat­er feel the pressure and don’t do well in their courses,” she said. “Many end up dropping them.”

Pharmacy, medicine and communication art credits cost higher because they in­volve higher expenses. Bi­ology and chemistry labs al­ways need new equipment and chemical products while cameras, editing programs, lights and other technology in the TV studio, newsroom and theatres are expensive.

“The tuition fees are not that expensive,” Ali Alwan, a 19-year-old pre-med student, said. “Our courses have Har­vard curriculum and the lab is well-equipped to prepare us for later.”

Raed Mohsen, the dean of student affairs, explained that LAU offers several fi­nancial aid packages and scholarships to help students cope with mounting tuition fees.

“We are always open to new ideas that can help stu­dents,” he added.

The financial aid office, which provides assistant­ships and scholarships, pro­motes its program every se­mester during recruitment and through pamphlets, the LAU website, posters, elec­tronic boards and web mail.

“I applied for financial aid the moment I entered LAU, after I heard about it from my relatives,” Mohammad Halabi, a 19-year-old busi­ness student, said. “It helps me a lot in my tuition fees ev­ery semester.”

“Financial aid applications are open to everybody at LAU,” Samir Obeid, the di­rector of the financial aid of­fice, said. Packages include work study and loans. The fi­nancial aid office distinguish­es between low, medium and high need students and ac­cordingly allocates grants that cover 25 to 50 percent of a student’s tuition fee.

The office bases its decisions on students’ financial aid ap­plications.

The financial aid office also provides students with the opportunity to work at the various departments and of­fices on campus. It offers sev­eral types of scholarships to deserving students, includ­ing merit, entrance, honor, athletics and talent and ex­ternal.

Yamen Ataya, a 21-year-old hospitality management stu­dent, worked at LAU’s guid­ance office after he applied for employment, “I benefit­ed a lot from my work, money and experience wise,” he ex­plained.

Ataya also tried work out­side. “I worked three months in a restaurant during night shifts to pay for my credits, I used to study make up for the time lost on weekends,” he said.

But, although LAU helps its students in many ways, cred­its remain expensive and the opportunity for the needy to join the university is limit­ed. “I would have loved to join LAU or AUB,” Mohamed F., an engineering student, said.

“But the credits are so ex­pensive that I couldn’t af­ford them even if I got finan­cial aid. Very unfortunately, I had to settle for less.”

LAU Tribune Staff

As the countdown starts for the announcement of the Champions League Cup, all eyes are on the two locking horns that are at the top of the scoring chart of goals: Barcelona’s Lionel Messi and Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo. Hearts are pounding and sweat has begun to pour. Bets have been made.

Both teams will be taken down to the field headed by these two undoubted leaders. However, the question remains: Who will end up scoring more goals in the battle of kings?

I won’t go into the two national teams’ individual successes; let’s keep the focus on the two beauties that provide us each game with more of their thrills and frills.

Let’s forget Rooney, Kaka, and the rest. There is no doubt that Messi and Ronaldo can rightfully claim the “world’s best player” title more than any other.

Messi, the little Argentinean, is a joy to watch and a nightmare for the opposing defenders who break down in cold sweat just at the thought of trying to stop him from scoring.

Both players are blessed with unbelievable skills, yet one is conceited and doesn’t perform in the field and the other appears to have gotten the ball magnetized to his feet. Messi could go in and out of the attackers and score a goal in a blink of an eye, the same way he stormed his rival Ronaldo with a shocking 2-0 victory.

With every game, Messi is able to prove his excellence by his finishing powers, his delicate skills and vibrant runs that are enough to light up any game.

It’s frightening to think that Ronaldo won’t be able to reach half the peak of this little wizard for another few years.

LAU Tribune contributor

Eighty percent of human interaction happens through non-verbal communication, guest speaker Marcel Abdallah said during a lecture at the Faculty Lounge on January 14.

“Whoever understands body language directly knows the person facing him,” Abdallah told the intrigued spectators.

Abdallah, Ph.D in criminal psychology, explained how adults carry a mildly-altered body language with them from their early years.

“Children cover their mouths using their hands when they regret saying something and may cover their ears when they do not want to hear someone,” Abdullah said as he introduced the topic of the lecture.

“We carry the same non-verbal communication techniques as adults. But we camouflage these reflexes to keep our thoughts from becoming too obvious for others,” Abdallah, who is also a law graduate, added.

Instead of luridly covering their ears, adults frequently scratch their necks or fail to make any eye-contact with the speaker as a sign of their indifference. Abdallah believes body language can serve as a simple lie detecting test for the experts of the field.

“If a person says something while his palms are face-up, he or she is telling the truth. In history, all serene activities, such as prayer, have seen man hold his hands face-up,” Abdallah stated.

“The eyes play a role in finding out whether people are telling the truth or not and, at some times, eyes help control other people,” Abdallah emphasized.

Despite the wide availability of training exercises in this domain, it is impossible for one to have total control over his or her body language.

“Never will you be able to have total control over your body,” Abdallah said.

Abdallah raised the possibility of returning to LAU to hold similar assemblies in the future as part of a series of lectures.

LAU Tribune staff

“We sit here, in this part of the ‘upper’ while they sit facing us directly on the right part of the gate,” Kareem Gharzedine, a 20-year-old banking and finance student, said.

What did Gharzedine mean by “we” and “they?” The “we” stands for the Druze group that sits on the right corner of the upper gate area while the “they” refers to the Shiites who sit on the stairs of its left side. This last group is, in turn, divided into two sub groups, one representing the Amal Movement on campus and the second Hezbollah.

The upper gate area is a strategic spot at LAU where most of the political groups florish. It is a small version of the Lebanese political structure –a fragile balance among the country’s various sectarian groups and the ideologies they uphold.

As the late Michael Suleiman of Kansas State University explains in his scholarly article on Lebanon, confessionalism rose here in the middle of the nineteenth century, when the power of local feudal leaders or zai’ms became more or less associated with a particular religion. The country’s geography was since transformed into various sectarian enclaves often separated by distance and distribution. The LAU Beirut campus seems to reflect this divide.

“I knew about the Druze group before I entered the university, my friends told me about it and I directly joined it, simply because I share the same political belief,” Gharzedine said. “It also represents my sect.” The Progressive Social Party students agreed that their loyalty to the Druze leader Walid Jumblat is behind their belonging to the same group.

Lara Mahmoud, a 22-year-old marketing student, spent her childhood abroad. When she joined LAU, she befriended people from various religious sects and political parties but still felt a loyalty to the Druze group. “No matter what you do, you return to your roots,” she said. “I can’t leave my origin.”

Walking past the upper gate, one cannot help but notice the gatherings of power poles who built their bases around the area over the years. Behind this divide are natural political and sociological tendencies. Students join a group either because they are loyal to its leader and political affiliation or because they identify with the principles and interests that the group represents.

“The idea of me sitting with any group shows that I’m identifying with that group,” Khaled Nasser, a communication studies lecturer at LAU, said. “You identify with a group by acting like its members.”  He explained that, in addition to personal identities, people also have social identities. “Your group becomes your body as well,” he said.

Two socio-psychological tendencies articulate the situation at LAU, Nasser explained. “Convergence” takes place when a student feels comfortable with a group’s ideology and hence assimilates its identity. “Divergence” occurs when the same student differentiates himself from other groups by acting in a dissimilar fashion. Nasser said that the more we like a certain ideology, the more we identify with it and become convergent toward it.

Ayman Haidar, a 22-year-old banking and finance student, is a member of the Amal Movement cluster. Haidar said that he joined the group not because he is a Shiite but because he is politically convinced by the movement’s principles.

As Haidar’s case shows, the origin of the groups’ foundation is based more on politics than on sects. Lebanon’s civil war empowered several political parties and the tensions dividing the country now are not essentially sectarian but political. Different sects, such as the Shiites and the Druze, have recently become partners based on common political interests while other sects, such as the Christians, are internally divided for the same reasons.

Although the political factor dominates, the social also affects some students in their choices to join or leave groups on campus. Mohamad Kareem, a 19-year-old accounting student, left the Hezbollah group on campus not because he disagrees with its ideology but because he felt uncomfortable with the social pressure of being part of any given group. “I don’t want people to stare at me as a person with a certain identity,” he said. “I have just become unhappy.”

Lebanon’s politics is like a puzzle game, where different pieces from different parties form a political map. Sometimes the outcome isn’t satisfying, so the puzzle is rearranged and the map changes accordingly. Under such circumstances, LAU students sometimes find themselves confused about the need to shift, sometimes, from convergence to divergence and vice versa.

Maryam Housami, a student belonging to the Future Movement group, lives in a largely Druze neighborhood. “I was very happy when the Druze of the Progressive Social Party were with us,” she said. “Now things have changed, and I don’t know with whom I am.” But Housami soon added, with a tinge of sarcasm, that she has “to follow [her] background.”

A psychological reason also underlies group divisions at LAU, Nasser explained. Students are attracted to specific groups to calm the instinctive fear humans naturally have of otherness. Joining groups, in this context, becomes a subconscious survival scheme where one feels protected in his community and among his friends. “Unity creates a feeling of safety,” Nasser said.

Some LAU students are not involved in politics. Making up their own small group, they gather around common interests and define themselves according to a social rather than a political identity.

Among these groups is the one whose members sit in front of the Fine Arts building, far from the upper gate in distance and in atmosphere. “I don’t belong to any of the upper gate groups. It’s not the ambiance I identify with,” Alya Samam, a 21-year-old communication arts student, said. “We sit here away from the problems.” Samam added that her group members socialize on a different, apolitical level. She carried a bag of chips and chocolates, distributing them to friends instead of political flyers.

Group of students from different sects, including Christians, Shiites and Sunnites, sit at the gate of the Business Building. They hang out together, oblivious to confessional and political differences. Discussing everything and nothing away from politics and ideologies, they are simply true friends.

LAU Tribune staff

Computer Applications is a one credit course offered at LAU and is mandatory for all students to complete in order to graduate. It consists of teaching students about the basics of commonly used applications such as Microsoft Word, Excel and Powerpoint.

Despite the fact that we are living in a high-tech world, there are still many people, including a large number of LAU students, who are not as knowledgeable as others when it comes to operating these applications.

Questions are asked in class that may seem like the simplest of things to those who are more advanced in this area. These include questions of how to make text bold in Word, or how to insert a formula into an Excel spreadsheet. These are valid questions for beginners, but make things move a lot slower for those who already know how to do them.

Sometimes, there is a clear imbalance of ability between students taking the same course. Students who are extremely familiar with these applications are placed in class with students who have never used them before. This means that the more advanced students sit and listen to what seems to be to them mundane questions.

LAU offers an English Entrance Exam in order to prevent this sort of imbalance when it comes to English courses. My question is: why do they not have a computer literacy exam as well?

If a computer literacy exam existed, students could be placed in a computer course suitable to their needs. This way, advanced students may have the opportunity to learn something new, while the other students can learn the basics at the pace they need.

I have been using computers for as long as I can remember, and I think that everyone should be able to operate these common applications. I do think that the Computer Applications course is important for those who do not know how to use them. I do not, however, think that those who already know how to use them should be required to sit through the course. This is why I think a computer literacy entrance exam would be useful.

LAU Tribune staff

While all her classmates are busy panicking about the upcoming finals, Fairouz Fakih, a business student at LAU, has something else in mind this January. Fakih is nine-month pregnant. She might give birth tomorrow, today or even in few minutes.

Fakih walks down the stairs with heavy steps.  She stops to take a breath before she continues plodding down the stairs, holding her notebook in one hand and putting the other on her stomach.

“I have already talked to my instructors regarding my finals and I will present them as incomplete if I went into labor this week,” Fakih said. “And after giving birth, I will keep my baby at my mom’s place when I need to study or attend classes.”

Despite the challenges that double responsibilities impose, married students on campus successfully prove that one can balance between being a spouse and/or parent and being a student.

“I’m proud of myself for being able to accomplish several tasks at a time,” Fakih said. “Balancing between being a wife and a student isn’t hard for me.”

Many studies have proven that married students usually have better GPAs than their single counterparts. Norma Moussally, LAU’s counselor, explained that married students cannot afford to lose time and hence double the effort to study. “They usually have responsibilities other students don’t have, such as cooking, taking care of the house or taking care of their kids. Therefore they use any spare minute for studying,” she said.

In Moussally’s opinion, the ease or difficulty of being married while still in college depends on what kind of person one’s partner is. “If your partner is somebody who is supportive of you getting an education, the experience is going to be extremely positive,” she explained. “You are going to be motivated to study and, in time of stress, you’ll find someone who is there for you.”

Fakih agrees. “My husband will never ever accept that I leave my studies just to cook and spend time with him,” she said.

Fatima Farhat, an LAU graduate journalism student, also finds that an understanding partner is a key to success for married students. “My husband helped me overcoming many obstacles,” she said. “He would go with me to interviews, and when I’m done, he would take me out for ice cream.”

But despite the support she got, Farhat said that her social life as married student was “on an extreme diet.” Although she loved to hang around with her friends, she preferred to spend those few extra hours outside LAU with her husband.

Zainab El Khansa, a banking and finance student, embraces every little piece of information in class, because, at home, there is little time for her to study, cook, clean and take care of her two little children at the same time.

Being in a long-distance relationship with her husband and taking 18 credits this semester, Al Khansa has a long to-do list each day. Her mornings start at 6am, when she wakes her two children up, gets them ready to school and quickly rushes to her 8 a.m. class.

El Khansa’s decisions are always related to her children. “One time I had to miss a very important exam because my two kids were sick,” El Khansa recalled. “I didn’t have another choice but to stay home with them.”

But despite the difficulties, LAU’s counselor said that balancing between being a wife and a student is not an impossible task. Moussally advises married students at LAU to attack their double responsibilities with problem-solving mentality and to carefully organize their time. “It is an advice for all students,” she said. “Married students just have one more thing to organize.”

But while Fakih asserts that she will never regret this experience and believes that she is living a normal and a “very happy” life, Farah Arbid, a banking and finance student, has a different point of view. Getting married during college is out of the question for her. “There is a time for university and a time for marriage, we shouldn’t mix both,” she said.

]]> http://tribunelau.com/2011/04/15/lebanese-otaku-where-to-get-your-anime-fix/ Fri, 15 Apr 2011 12:42:23 +0000 LAU Tribune http://tribunelau.com/2011/04/15/lebanese-otaku-where-to-get-your-anime-fix/ By Mounawwar Abbouchi

LAU Tribune contributor

Grendizer, Les Chevaliers du Zodiac, Dragon Ball, Detective Conan (aka Case Closed), Pokémon. Nostalgic titles for many of the Lebanese youth who grew up during the 1980s and 90s. But audiences receive these animated series in Arabic and French, thereby unwittingly ignoring their origin.

What most people do not know is that their old favorites were merely a few of the hundreds of animated series and films that have come out of Japan during the past few decades. Japanese animation, or anime, in its native country, has several distinctive characteristics: the characters have strikingly wide eyes, colorful, eccentric hair, and often-disproportionate features.

Mohamed Mneimneh, is an aspiring artist and the founder of the Lebanime Klub. He points out the differences between anime and American cartoons in terms of both plot and art. Mneimneh considers anime at once more complex and aesthetically appealing.

Anime and manga (Japanese graphic novels) have become part of many Lebanese subcultures, with clubs and online groups increasingly on the rise. “It’s not a new thing in Lebanon,” Khaled Salloum, founder of the Social Anime Rejects, said. “Other groups rarely meet in real life, so I thought, why not have a club where people can meet, have fun, and of course discuss and share anime and manga?”

The Rejects meet on a weekly basis and exchange gigabytes of anime and manga files. They plan their first cosplay (or ‘costume playing’) event this February, a sacred practice among fans worldwide that involves dressing up as your favorite anime character.

Other needs of Lebanese otaku (the Japanese word for ‘fans’) are catered to by an out-of-the-way shop at the end of Bliss Street, where fans can often be found hanging out and talking about anime.

Mohamed Sinno, the owner of Gift Mania, works in the only store in Beirut that sells anime figurines and memorabilia and has made anime the main target of his business. “Although anime is mostly popular with people who have lived abroad, there’s a whole new generation [in Lebanon] who is getting into it,” Sinno said.

There is a common misconception that animation is meant for children but the Japanese clearly disagree. Many anime series are rated M for Mature, such as the graphic Shigurui and the philosophical Ergo Proxy. Few others are strictly Adults Only. “It’s not like regular cartoons,” Sinno explained. “There is far more realism and depth in the themes and characters portrayed.”

Anime may not be a mainstream trend in Lebanon yet, but we are by no means strangers to Japanese animations such as Studio Ghibli’s Ponyo and Spirited Away. Both films appeared on our big screens.

“It’s hard to ignore us nowadays. Our numbers have really grown,” Salloum said as he described the local fan base for anime. “If you had asked me three years ago, I would have said most people can’t tell the difference between anime and regular cartoons. But now most people are aware of us.”

Anime appears to be slowly seeping into pop culture worldwide, and Lebanese anime fans in particular may not remain “underground” for long.

LAU Tribune contributor

Vice-president of the Al-Waleed Bin Talal Humanitarian Foundation Leila Solh Hamadeh called on the Lebanese to stop focusing on politics and work on the future of youth instead. Her speech came during the inauguration of the sixth annual Model United Nations program.

The program trains students to engage in public speaking and constructive debates. It also exposes them to the history of international peaceful resolutions, with an emphasis on UN practices and policies.

In Spring 2011, students will take part in a two-day conference modeling UN assemblies. They will pass resolutions with emphasis on reform, peace and alleviation of global crises.

“Lebanon needs your innocence in leadership, needs your enthusiasm and your energy to change, for you, for us, for our future,” LAU President Joseph Jabbra said during the ceremony.

Around 105 LAU students joined the program this year. The total number of Lebanese participants reached 1,500, including middle- and high-school students.

The Al-Waleed GC-LAU MUN program seeks to build future leaders. This year’s motto is “youth can change the world.”

A representative of the Cypriote embassy, LAU’s vice-president Elise Salem, the dean of students Raed Mohsen and LAU MUN’s program director Elie Samia attended the ceremony.

I just called everyone to the stage and I’m asking them to read this post before I publish it.

That's Almost Everyone. Our Team Consisted of Around 15 People

Dear

Imane: I am sorry I could not help you in your play as much as you helped me. I will never forget how much time and effort you put into this play, whether it is painting the leaves, going “yalla, yalla saret 7:30″, or organizing so many things for us to work faster! I wouldn’t have dreamed of a better Technical Director.

Maha: I laughed when I wrote your name. I guess it’s because how much fun it was with you being around no matter how much work we had to do; you always seemed to have a way to make us all laugh, and frankly that’s something AMAZING especially when you’re the Stage Manager.

Toulyn: You joined the team as a stage manager at a later stage and you were the element that was lacking in our crew! You were always ready to help in anything even if it wasn’t your job! I love that about you! I don’t know how to thank you!

Hussein: You did more than just designing and EXECUTING a beautiful set! You have been there for me and the play since the beginning and you did it for so many reasons but mainly because you are so passionate about theatre. I know that you will succeed in this domain and that very soon you will be realizing your dream, I know that for a fact!

Layal: I am proud to have you design the lights. It is the first time you’re doing this and I’m sure that people will not believe me when I tell them that this is your first official lighting design work! You did a marvelous job and it added SO much to the play!

Rayssa: Happy birthday! You weren’t my sound designer in the play (event though the music you chose was amazing), no you were a true friend. Someone who will always be there for me and to whom I will always be there for. (I hope I used the “whom” correctly, as if you’d know ) Oh and your tweets meant so much to me, for so many reasons and you know them all.

Gassig: I’m glad we agreed on the costume at the end, it was the perfect one. I told you this before and I want to say it again: just knowing that you’re around in rehearsals or that you’re just a “whatsapp” message away made me feel relieved and kept me going. Thank you for everything you did this past month! Oh and…actually never mind .

Mazen: My last minute make-up designer! Thanks for helping out at the last minute. I couldn’t imagine the play being complete without you having your crazy fits at some point! Thanks.

Dounia: Those people outside are here because of your design. You did an awesome job! I don’t know anyone who would design a poster for a play better than you! Thank you so much! Especially for being patient with all the changes made! The program isn’t ready yet but I’m not worried at all, I know it’ll be as good as the poster.

Camelia: The minute you found out I started working on the play you came to me and said “I want to help! What do you need?” It’s not easy to do the publicity of a play, but you did it; and you did it perfectly, I knew I could trust you with anything. After all you ARE my first “rencontre” at LAU!!

Ali: Everyone loves to work with you because you are “3ayesha” as we were discussing a few days ago. I hope you never loose that, it shows how passionate you are in what you do. Thank you for everything that you have done, LAU’s favorite light operator.

Majed: You’re a pro when it comes to sound operating. Some might say it doesn’t require a lot but I’ve been in your position many times and I know how much concentration it requires. And I know how boring it could get when you’re not doing anything up in the control room but you have to stay because they’re fixing something on stage. Believe me that I tried to speed things up as much as I could while working just so you guys in the control room don’t feel what I feel when I’m operating the sound or lights! I’m sure it didn’t work though

Mohammad, Thea and Mohammad: My stage hands! Without you, the play would not be the same! Sitting on the catwalk is not comfortable, thanks for enduring that! I’ll do that in your plays if you need me to I promise!

Fuad: Where do I start? I’m not even going to bother counting the things you helped with in this production! You helped in everything! I don’t know what to write, I really don’t know. Actually, I don’t know how to thank you for everything you have done this past month and I don’t think I’ll ever do. One day I will try my best to buy you the Kinder factory perhaps, or try to help you direct 2 plays a year, one feature film every two years and 1 short film every two months or all of those together! Oh and starting that egg project we were thinking of! I don’t know, it doesn’t matter because all of that might never be accomplished but know that I will always be there to help you in anything, no matter how irrational it may sound, we’ll try to make it come true!

Fuad Halwani who plays Kamil's Father (right) and I (left) during one of the rehearsals in our beloved room G013.

On another note, what’s great is that I had NO ONE to show this to before Tuesday since all of my closest friends and the people I love the most were working with me in the play!

Anyways, I guess it’s time, Fuad please click the “publish” button on the right and let’s open the doors.

Poster of the production designed by Dounia Nassar

Enjoy YOUR performance! You made it happen!

Thank you everyone,

Karim

More and more students are graduating lacking the ability to write a decent essay. When a teacher gives an assignment, many students smile calmly while others frantically try to jot down an outline and research some articles.

The difference between those students is simply a phone number. Whether it’s an A student looking to make some money, or “Michael Jackson” the graduate, or even a whole organization called the “The Consultants”, the opportunities for students to buy assignments and get away with it lay at their fingertips. The Consultants say that around peak time (midterms and finals) they get around 1,000 assignments a week, from students in several universities.

Plagiarism is defined by the Lebanese American University’s (LAU) handbook “as the use of someone else’s ideas, words, or work, as if it were one’s own, without clearly acknowledging the source of that information.” It is also recognized as a serious offense and is punishable. The handbook states: “The severity of the disciplinary action is determined according to the extent of the plagiaristic act. The disciplinary action could range from resubmitting the work with penalty, to dismissal from the Program.” Dr. Samira Aghacy, Dean of the Arts and Sciences, adds: “Normally we give a zero, plus a warning. After a double warning, the student is out of the university.”

With their entire education on the line, why would students take the chance? Manal, a third year accounting student explains: “I’m not very good in English; I am a math person. So, I would be failing anyway. At least by buying assignments I have a chance of passing.” Walid, a second year marketing major, claims: “My English teachers gave up on me a long time ago. They don’t care if I actually learn, and I will not need to write essays in the future, so why not buy assignments if it allows me to pass?”

The administration and professors at LAU are aware of plagiarism and have policies against it. “There is even a software we have now, called turnitin.com, that allows us to find out if a student has plagiarized their papers,” says Aghacy. Turnitin.com allows professors to find out whether or not students have copied texts that are available on the Internet.

Aghacy claims that she can immediately tell from the writing if it is the student’s work or not. “I think [picking up on this problem] depends on the discretion of the instructor,” she adds. “It is a world-wide problem, and we need to deal with it case by case.”

Dr. Raed Mohsen, the LAU Dean of Students, agrees that there are methods to detect plagiarism. “Students are required to hand in an abstract and an outline before handing in the actual assignment and if the student is weak in the preliminary stages and finishes fast with better results, the instructor would doubt and then test the student on his paper,” explains Mohsen.

But how will an instructor know if a student has paid someone to write an essay from scratch based on their style and level of writing?

“I have not written a single essay since I have been in LAU,” testifies Majd, a third year business student. “The English teachers are very submissive,” he adds. “I get some points off for not handing in the abstract and outline, but they can’t tell that it’s not my writing, because they have never seen my writing,” he laughs.

The Consultants claim that buying assignments is not plagiarism. “It is nobody’s business who helps you with a paper, and you are not stealing anyone’s ideas; we are giving them to you willingly.” They claim that not a single one of their jobs has been detected, and if one had been, it would have been because of the stupidity of the student.

These purchases are done in a very systematic and ambiguous way; there are also several ways of doing so. Mazen, a second year architect student, helps out friends at LAU, the American University of Beirut, and at Haigazian University for about $90 an assignment. “Michael Jackson”, or MJ as he dubs himself, prefers to do things more ambiguously.

Sandra (an alias name), a third year journalism student, reports: “MJ wanted me to drop off the money and requirements at his hotel lobby and he would have left me an envelope when done. He wanted $100 for a PowerPoint presentation about two chapters. I didn’t go through with it, but his number might come in handy some day.”

The Consultants, however, go about things in a more professional manner. Lina (an alias name), a senior journalism student, testifies: “I called and he said that we needed to meet. I met him at the corner of Western Union right next to LAU. He asked about the course, the teacher, the assignment requirements and then he set the price. I paid him half as a down payment and the rest when the assignment was finished.”

The Consultants claim that their writers are mostly Masters students and that before writing an assignment they conduct “university planning and education analysis.” “Some of our writers have been in this business for seven years,” claims the ambiguous phone operator that refused to give his name. “They wrote assignments for some teachers in LAU when they were still students,” he adds. Their prices range from $120 to $180 depending on the requirements and the amount of time given to complete the assignment.

“Me and my friends are like those girls you see on Gossip Girl,” confesses Sandra. “We are rich and we just sit around and gossip and pay people to do our work.”

Sure, the amount of plagiarism or copying from the Internet has decreased since the arrival of turnitin.com, but that is not the kind of plagiarism plaguing the teachers.

This article was previously published in the Lebanese American University’s Tribune.

Yalla! 2010 was an enormous success, connecting lots of alumni and friends of LAU all across the North American continent.  And we were pleased as well, thanks to their generosity, that Yalla! 2010 turned into a valuable fundraising campaign for student scholarships.

Now we want to know what you think.  What ideas do you have for Yalla 2011?  Where should we travel to?  What should we do?  Can you suggest any new cities for alumni chapters or events?  We want to hear your thoughts.

As big and successful as Yalla! 2010 was this year we want Yalla! 2011 to be even bigger next year.  Will you help us out?

And if you’d like to contribute to Yalla! 2010 you can do it by clicking here:

To get an idea about exactly how much caffeine LAU students consume, a visit was paid to the neighboring stores. On upper gate, a popular venue is Malik’s bookshop, which also sells red bull. Issa Sattouf, store manager, claims that they sell about four cartons of red bull a day, each carton containing 24 cans. In front of lower gate there is a wider variety of options. Fatha Hlel, cashier of “3 Lower Gate,” states that he sells about 48 cans of red bull per day. Mohammad Zayyed, manager of Kripsy Kreme LAU branch, professed that he sells precisely 80 cups of American coffee per day, and 75% of the consumers are students. Wassim Ghalayini, owner of City’s Market said that they sell about 50 boxes of red bull every month and a half. What City’s Market has that the others don’t are energy shots. Ghalayini claims that he sells about 4 or 5 a day. “My supplier said he will refill the supply after exam time because the energy shots would then be done,” Ghalayini quipped. He even confessed that some students buy a can of red bull and an energy shot during exam period.

Ruba Halabi, Business freshman, consumes three cans of red bull a day. “I like it, it helps me concentrate, the only negative effect I experience is that I get tired faster during basketball practice,” said Halabi. Khaled Sayyed, accounting major claims that he is not addicted to red bull and only drinks it when necessary. “I have been awake since eight and I have an exam at 5:30 p.m., if I don’t drink red bull I will off myself” Sayyed joked. Samer Niser, management major, confessed, “I once drank 13 cans of red bull in one day, the fast heart beat was annoying.”

Clinical dietician, Sarah Adwan clarifies why red bull has such a bad reputation in terms of health. She explains that each can of red bull contains an excessive amount of caffeine, and over a long period of time, consumption can lead to adverse effects. Eventually, having caffeine will make the consumer tired instead of active. In the long run, a high concentration of caffeine can cause anxiety disorders. “They won’t be able to sleep anymore, even if they do sleep, they are not in the right level of sleep that their body needs to rest, it’s a shallow sleep,” Adwan said. The lack of sleep can also cause its own set of problems. Further more, Adwan cautions about the amount of simple sugars in such drinks. Simple sugars have no benefit, only empty calories; an excess of them can cause an increase in adrenaline and even hypoglycemia.

Most of the LAU students interviewed admitted that they had heard of the negative affects but never experienced them. The only mentioned repercussion was a fast heartbeat. However, according to Adwan, they will feel the effects in the long run. Perhaps it’s better to have healthy sleeping habits than to rely on substances to stay awake.

This was previously published in the LAU tribune.

“Yalla! 2010 Toronto was an amazing success for everyone.  It is always nice to meet old friends and make new ones.  The best part was the fact that our donation was doubled with Mr. Khanaan’s challenge – it is just heart warming to feel that we are able to help someone back home.  Everyone was happy with the venue, the food, the music…”

Samir from LA…

“Yalla! 2010 Los Angeles, was really a great event and it opened a door for more upcoming events and strengthened the bonds between LAU alumni who live in this part of the world. This event and the upcoming events gives us hope that our culture is still surviving and is able to live in such a variety of cultures in LA.

Yalla! 2010 had a lasting impact throughout North America, and there’s still a chance for you to continue the spirit and help change a student’s life.  Make a gift to support scholarships now through the end of the year and have your gift matched by the Khalil Kanaan Challenge.

So far we’ve received a number of gifts from alumni in Toronto, Los Angeles and other North American cities that will be matched by Mr. Kanaan’s generous donation and help provide students with scholarships to attend LAU.

Contribute to the Yalla! 2010 spirit and provide important assistance by visiting our website with the button below:

As we mentioned earlier, Yalla! 2010 has helped to spawn the Khalil Kanaan Challenge, a mini fundraising campaign that will last for the rest of the year that we hope will help raise scholarship funds for LAU students.  We’re proud of what Khalil has done and we hope that many of you will be inspired by his challenge. 

But more than anything else we’re proud of the spirit that has been born out of Yalla! 2010.  We’re proud to be part of a truly global university—an institution that continues to honor, respect, and celebrate its alumni even after they leave its campuses. 

Enjoy the pictures from the last four events and keep checking back for more information.

Explain how your experience at LAU helped to prepare you for what you are doing now?

The LAU has left a big footstep in my life, it gave me strong knowledge in Computer Science and this made it a lot easier to get my Masters in this field. LAU gave me a strong foundation and formidable knowledge which is the pillar of my success in my career. Furthermore, LAU provided strong emotional support when I needed it while I was under lots of stress. I am very thankful and will not hesitate to help LAU grow and prosper today and always.

What is your fondest memory of LAU?

I enjoyed walking around the campus and watching the plays that took place on Saturday evenings.

What do you miss most about Lebanon?

I miss my family, my friends, the beautiful pine trees, the poetry evenings, shopping, great food, and the night life in Lebanon.

If you were talking to a new student at LAU today what advice would you give to him or her about the university?

I would say that LAU provides one of the top notch education in the Middle East. Furthermore, LAU provides care for the students mental and emotional health and a fun studying environment that is very conducive to learn, laugh and explore.

What advice would you give to anyone moving to the San Francisco area?

It is very important to connect with the LAU alumni for networking and for making it easier to adjust and adapt. The LAU chapter provides a very nourishing environment to all alumni. We are like a big family.

Who was your favorite professor at LAU?

Dr. Pappazian and Dr. Layla Khoury.

Now that you live in the US how has being a member of your LAU alumni chapter helped you?

I am very pleased that we started this chapter, all the alumni in our chapter are great friends with each other. We are like a big family, we help each other in finding jobs, supporting local and Lebanese businesses, going together to Arab cultural events, sharing great stories and anecdotes and inviting each others to our homes. I instantly made about 10 new friends and we are very close. It is a lifetime experience that I cherish dearly.

We’re so excited that Yalla! 2010 has created such excitement and energy and we’re excited that the Yalla spirit will continue to live beyond our final event tonight thanks to this wonderful challenge grant from Khalil Kanaan.

Look for more updates soon.